Art of setting tiles in kilns



No. 6|4,258. Patented' Nov. l5, |898. H. A. WHEELER. Am oF 'SETTING mEsm Knus; (Applicaripn med my l21, 169s) (No Model.)

NITED YSTATES PATENT OFFICE.

HERBERT ALLEN-WHEELER, OF ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI.

ART OF SETTING TILEIS IN KILNS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 614,258, dated November15, 18,98. Application filed Maly Z1, 1898. Serial No. 681,396. (N0mdel-l To all wiz/0m it may concern:

Be it known that I, HERBERT ALLEN WHEELER, a citizen of the UnitedStates, residing at the city of St. Louis, in the State of Missouri,have invented anew art or method or process of setting tile and otherthin forms of clay in a kiln preparatory to burning the same; and Ideclare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of theinvention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which itappertains to follow and utilize the same.

The art or method or process is adapted to the setting in a kiln forburning of tile or other sheet-like forms of clay goods-'-such asroofing-tiles, flooring-tiles, thin slabs of refractory goods, &c., andespecially the thin sheets known as clay shingles, for in this class ofclayware, that have considerable length and width, but slight thickness,the tendency to warp, twist, check, crack, and

break is very great during the period of burning the same from the greatdifficulty of being able to secure uniform drying, heating, shrinking,and cooling by the various methods or processes of setting now in use,and in consequence the loss is very great. These difficulties arise fromthe tile or other thin not equally heated in all directions, whichcauses warping, twisting, checking, and cracking, or else they are notfree to first expand when the kiln is irst heated and subsequentlyshrink when the burning is further advanced from the weight of overlyingtile or material that rests upon them, and which causes twisting,checking, cracking, and breaking of the tile, because the individualtile are not free to move, for if clay goods are unequally heated theywarp and twist toward the side which dries or is heated first, andunless the clay is very tough it is also apt to check or crack or evenbreak from unequal drying, heating, or cooling. Again, if the clay goodsare so set or arranged that they are weighted down by overlying materialresting on them this interferes with the free movement for the expansionand subsequent contraction or shrinkage that occurs in the process ofburning, and more or less warping, checking, cracking, and even breakageis apt to result in consequence, besides which internal strains 4areproduced in the individual tile, which greatly affect its strength andtoughness, because of the interference in contraction caused by theoverlying weight. Thin goods especially, like clay shingles, feel theseeffects very severely, and in consequence the losses from warping,checking, and breakage are very large, besides which the few first-classgoods that are produced are lacking in toughness.

The object of my invention is to so set or arrange the tile, &c., as toovercome unequal heating and cooling, thereby avoiding all tendency towarp, twist, check, and crack, and to so set the goods that no weightrests on them, and consequently they are free to expand or contractwhichprevents the twisting, checking, cracking, and breakage that occur whenthey carry the overlying material, while it results in a much tougher,stronger tile from the absence of the internal strains that arise fromsuch overlying weights interfering with the free movement of theinternal particles in shrinking.

With this obj ect in view my invention con sists of an art or method orprocess of setting or arranging tile and other thin clay products bywhich the heat passes equally on all four sides of the tile during theoperation of burning in the kiln by means of special passages or ductsor ports that completely-encircle or girdle the tile, except where thetile rests on the saggar-blocks, while the 4tile or other thin claygoods are so carried by special blocks or saggar-tile that no weightrests upon them, so that they are free to expand or shrink, and hencethere is no tendency to warp, twist, check, crack, or break, while theburned tile are much stronger because the freedom of movement lallowsthe internal particles to accommodate themselves to the differentconditions of burning and cooling without'setting up internal stresses.

In the drawings herewith annexed to illustrate the method or processsimilar letters represent similar parts.

Figure l is a longitudinal section on the line A B. Fig. 2 is across-section on the line C D, and Fig. 3 is a plan showing thearrangement of the tile and the supporting saggarblocks.

My method of supporting and carrying the IOO tile, clay shingles, orother thin clayware is to set the thin ware that is to be burned in akiln in parallel contiguous series or packets r, and these packets reston edge or vertically between parallel hard-burned saggar-blocks e e e.On these blocks e are set another series of packets of tile 19 p p, alsoon edge and at right angles to e, which rest on the blocks c and whichare supported laterally by a set of blocks d d (Z, which are at rightangles to e. Another set of blocks c c c rest on the blocks d and atright angles to them and between which are the packets of tile 0 o 0.Similarly blocks b b b rest on and at right angles to c, between whichare the packets of tile n n n, and another set of saggar-blocks a a arest on and at right angles to b, between which are the packets of tilem m m. Similarly by this method of carrying the tile, dsc., to be burnedon and between saggar-blocks made of hardburned refractory material thekiln can be set indefinitely in a lateral, longitudinal, or verticaldirection. By this method of carrying the unburned thin clay goods inpackets or parallel series in pockets formed in and carried byindependent built-up saggarblocks there is no weight resting on thegreen clay goods, which are at liberty to expand and contract or shrinkwithout hindrance, and consequently there is no tendency for them towarp, check, crack, or break, or to be rendered brittle and weak frominternal strains that result when the clay goods have to carry theweight of overlying material.

The vital feature in the successful application of this method of usingsaggar-blocks consists in my improvement in having the saggar-blocksappreciably larger than the tile or thin goods that are to be burnedboth in length and height, so that passages or openings are formed overthe tile, at each end of the tile, and under the tile. Thus thesaggarblock a is longer than the tile m that is to be burned, thusleaving a passage or duct t t at each end of the tile m. Thesaggar-block b is similarly longer than the tiles n, thus leaving theducts or passages fu t at each end of the tiles f/L. It is also higherthan the tiles, so that it leaves the passage or duct or opening u uover the tiles n and under the tiles fm. rIhe greater length and heightof the saggarblock c than the tiles o forms the ducts or passages 0J mat each end of o and the passages w w over the tiles o and under thetiles n. Similar differences between the sizes of the saggar-blocks andthe tiles or clay shingles to be burned leaves the verticalseries ofducts or passages t@ ze', the longitudinal horizontal ducts or passagesu and y, and the lateral horizontal ducts 0r passages s, w, and w.Furthermore, these vertical, lateral, and longitudinal ducts or passagesall communicate with one another, and hence from the top to the bottomof the kiln, from side to side of the kiln, and from end to end of thekiln, and consequently give an unbroken though tortuous passage for theair, heat, vapor, and

gases of the kiln to pass completely through the entire contents of thekiln by going over the tops, down the sides, and along the bottom ofevery packet of tile in the kiln, whether it be a downdraft, sidedraft,or updraft kiln. Furthermore, every tile or clay shingle, as n, has theheat (or cooling-air) pass equally over the top at u u, down the sidesor ends of the tile at 1J fu, and under and along the bottom lw w, andconsequently as it is heated equally on all sides there is no tendencyto warp, twist, check, or crack. The size of thesel ducts or passages,formed by making the saggar-blocks larger than the tiles to be burned,will be varied to suit the size of the kiln, kind of fuel used,character and shrinkage of the clay to be burned, and has to bedetermined for the local conditions of each kind and character of clay,size of the tile, kiln, and kind of fuel employed.

The size anducharacter of the saggar-blocks for forming the pockets inwhich the packets of tile or thin clay goods is to be burned will dependon the size of the kiln, character of the goods to be burned,temperature employed, and character of the refractory clay with whichthey are made, and they are kept as small as is consistent with goodpractice.

If more than one size or kind of thin goods is to be burned, differentsizes and kinds of saggar-blocks can be employed, provided each size iskept in and forms one horizon or stratum, so as to enable the ducts orpassages to be maintained unbroken or not interrupted in theirintercommunication.

The saggar-blocks can be made with square ends and form a butt-joint, asshown in the figures, in abutting against one another, or else to form abetter support for the green ware they can be made with beveled ends andform a scarf-joint or an overlapping joint.

The spacing of the saggar-blocks and the number required under eachpacket of tile will depend on the clay to be burned, its shrinkage, andthe size of the tile, as the less the amount of shrinkage the greatercan be the distance between the saggar-blocks.

The packets are illustrated as being set in vertical series, supportedby parallel saggarblocks on each side of each packet,` and resting onother saggar-blocks below that run at right angles to the same, as thiswill generally give the largest capacity ,for the least space; but whendesirable, as in round kilns, dac., they can be set slanting ordiagonally to accommodate special conditions, provided that thecontinuity of the ducts or passages are unbroken and that the heatpasses equally around all the packets of tile.'

Vhere it is necessary to use large-sized saggar-blocks in order to burnlarge tile, it may be found more convenient to subdivide thesaggar-blocks into two or more smaller or narrower tile' that aresuperimposed on one another to make the saggar-blocks lighter and easierto handle.

Having thus described my invention,` what IOO IIO

IOy

I claim, and desire to secure by Letters- Patent, is-

l. A method or process of setting tile and other thin clay products in akiln, for burning, which consists in setting them in packets composed ofa series of parallel contiguous tiles, carrying said packets onand-supporting them laterally by refractory blocks, and leaving open aseries of passages or ducts over, under, and at each end of every packetof tile by having said refractory blocks of greater length and widththan the tile to be burned, substantially as shown and described.

2. The combination of saggar-blocks in series of parallel blocks, withone series of parallel saggar-blocks resting on and at right angles toanother series, with each series of parallel saggar-blocks alternatelyresting on and at right angles to the series immediately beneath, witheach series forming pockets or spaces for the reception of packets oftile, with each saggar-block having greater length and width than thetile thereby forming passages or ducts over the tops, down the sides,

and underneath said packets of tile, substantially as described.

3. The combination of abutting saggarblocks in series of parallelblocks, with one series of parallel abutting saggar-blocks resting onand at right angles to the series of parallel abutting saggar-blocksimmediately beneath', with each series of parallel abuttingsaggar-blocks alternately resting on and at right angles to the seriesof parallel abutting saggar-blocks immediately beneath,with each seriesforming pockets or spaces for the rei ception of packets of contiguousparallel tile or other thin clay products, with each saggarblock havinggreater length and width than the tile thereby forming unbroken passagesor spaces or ducts around said packets of tile, substantially as shownand described.

In testimony whereof I herewith affix my signature in the presence oftwo witnesses.

HERBERT ALLEN WHEELER.

Witnesses:

WM. H. Sco'rT, RALPH KALIsH.

